Workforce Planning
Workforce planning improvement project has been restarted with a September workshop. This project aims to bring key individuals together across workforce, planning and finance to address some of the challenges experienced in operational workforce planning and share knowledge and learning across the system.
Work continues, the ICS Digital Workforce Strategy with an initial plan prepared from early engagement and initial research. This work will now focus on wider engagement to build the full strategy.
e-Workforce Systems
Progress continues to be made on maximising the use of e-roster, through engagement and partnership working with Trust leads. E-roster is anticipated to be a key area of focus and growth for the remainder of the year, as a core enabler for workforce optimisation, to in turn reduce the demand for temporary workforce.
We continue to strengthen relationships with the BSA team regarding ESR optimisation and readiness for the successor ESR product in the coming years. A workforce data community of practice has been established as a platform for collaboration and co-working between Trust workforce information leads and other stakeholders. This group is currently prioritising the scope and operational requirements for new system-level ESR feeds, as a route to ensuring more timely and accurate data to inform ICS decision making.
Temporary workforce
Use of bank and agency staff has been identified as one of the key workforce factors contributing to the financial pressures within SY ICS. As such, we are using our established groups and governance structures to further raise the profile or this issue and take tangible action to address and reduce costs. This includes the production of enhanced data packs from key suppliers (e.g. NHS Professionals) which show an extra layer of detail as to where bank/agency roles are being requested, the reason for the request, and which placements are in breach of NHSE rules regarding cap costs and framework. This level of data will allow us to build on previous progress made, such as a reduction and greater level of consistency in nurse agency rates; and a significant reduction in non-clinical agency usage over the last 12 months as a result of the ICB-led assurance process.
Recruitment
The ‘Time to Hire’ project continues to focus on key improvement areas for the streamlining of recruitment processes. Work over recent months has included mapping and sharing best practice in vacancy control processes; completing engagement with recruiting managers through a survey process; and beginning exploration of employment checks as one of the main areas of delay in the recruitment journey. This progress on the efficiency of recruitment has been balanced by the work of the SY Inclusive Recruitment Group, which is now established as a forum for Trusts to share and work collaboratively on qualitative and inclusion considerations within recruitment, work required for the ‘high impact actions’ of NHSE’s EDI Improvement Plan.
Enabling Staff Movement
Work continues on the Digital Staff Passport (DSP) rollout, with all seven SY Trusts now either active as DSP users, in the process of implementation, or with a date for implementation scheduled over the next quarter. A new SY DSP group ensures progress and shared learning on an ongoing basis and in conjunction with the national DSP team.
Another focus this quarter has also been the South Yorkshire response to NHSE reform and standardisation of statutory and mandatory training provision (MAST). The SY MAST governance group has worked to collectively give assurances relating to alignment with the Core Skills Training Framework (CSTF) and eLearning for healthcare (eLFH) modules. Where issues or discrepancies have been identified with the format or frequency of MAST training, an action plan has been put in place to adjust provision as required.
Partnership working
Partnership work continues on a regular basis through a wide variety of stakeholder groups, including: SY CPO Group, SY Deputy CPO Group and the SY Social Partnership Forum (SY SPF). These groups have provided organised, constructive space to progress SY system objectives, as referenced in the content above (and much more beyond this). Additional partnership work has commenced on new initiatives, such as an emerging improvement project focussing on barriers to progression for black and minority ethnic (BAME) nurses.